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This was stated in the research report Health Behavior in Schoolaged Children (HBSC), which will be presented tomorrow to Queen Máxima. Girls reported not only far more emotional problems in 2021 than four years earlier, but also more behavioral problems, hyperactivity and attention problems. “There is cause for concern,” says lead researcher Gonneke Stevens of Utrecht University.
The decline is “probably to a significant extent” linked to the crown crisis. Mental health has also deteriorated among boys, but according to the researchers this is not in proportion to developments among girls.
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International research
Since the first measurement in 2001, the HBSC survey has been conducted every four years by researchers from Utrecht University, the Trimbos Institute and the Office of Social and Cultural Planning. It is an international study commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1983 in more than 50 countries in Europe and North America, to get a picture of the well-being of young people.
For this study, 1,800 young people between the ages of 11 and 16 were followed.
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According to Stevens, these numbers should sound an alarm bell. “We have never seen such a huge increase since 2001. We want to send the signal that there are indeed many more emotional problems in 2021 than before.”
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Pressure on performance
In addition to emotional problems, girls also experience great pressure to perform in school. While in 2001 16% of young people in secondary education said they are under a lot of pressure due to schoolwork, in 2021 this percentage increased to 45%.
Although boys are also involved in these figures, girls are more likely to suffer. “Performance is more important to girls than boys. We’ve always seen that, but now to an even greater extent. So this is a more unfavorable development for girls than boys,” says Stevens.
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Although the girls were hit hardest, both groups rate their lives lower than in previous years. Expressed in a number: on average, young people today give their lives a 7.1. That figure has never been lower than in 2021. Years before it was a 7.5 and in 2001 it was an 8.
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Coronacrisis
According to Stevens, the crown crisis plays an important role in this. “There was already greater importance to perform, but because of the crown, school closures and educational disadvantages added to that. This combination means that young people have started to come under even more pressure from homework.”
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The fact that the crown crisis now appears to be over doesn’t mean the problems disappeared immediately, Stevens points out. “The educational disadvantages caused by the crown crisis may have been a catalyst for an already existing social development: the greater importance that young people, their parents and society in general attach to school activity.”
New approach to the toilet
According to Stevens, these findings underscore the importance of the government’s new approach (“Mental Health: For All of Us”). In this approach, specific attention will be paid to young people with mental problems. “We expect young people to need help and support to tackle the problems.”
Today the report will be presented to Queen Máxima during the symposium “Young people of the 21st century”.
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